Marc's Public Blog

Jennifer was able to join me this time, provided I put some lights on her, which I was happy to do :)

Triode:

Triode then handed over to Super8 and Tab who took the evening:

The ideal solution is batteries only if your event isn't too long and you've done the math that the batteries have enough Wh for your needs
Next, is usually batteries + generator that you start as needed. Solar is really the best solution, but it requires more complicated hardware and setup (charge controller, MPPT charger, etc...), but more importantly for any non trivial power need you actually need pretty bulky and heavy panels to handle the load (of course this also relies on you being able to count on enough sun during your event at that location, not an issue for burning man, but potentially an issue for a spring festival in some place that could be overcast or maybe even rainy).

12V Charging

Plenty of chargers work off 12V, you may just need to use some barrel adapters:

20V and other higher voltage high amp charging

this battery pack can output 9, 12, 16, 19, or 20V

You can see the 12V being split and going into the little white box with the step up boost converter. It shows that it's taking 3.5A at 12V and the red display next to the laptop shows it's turned into 1.7A at 20V which goes both into the already charged laptop and the almost charged ravpower battery pack:

it might not look like much, but this is my new 160W laptop power supply :)

5V USB charging

you can see the anker 14 port USB hub next to the powerex battery charger for scale

Then, I personally use this for my trips when I want a lot of USB (5V) power:

And here is the end result, lots of different chargers all from that same 12V source (including all the adapter tips in the upper left)

getting a fresh set of tires

The first day, I only got down to 1:50 (with the bypass), due to a combination of worn brakes, hot track, and lack of more skill.
The 2nd day, thanks to my coach, Matt Belle, I improved my driving, but the track got even hotter, so I also only got down to 1:50:xx too before the track got even more greasy and my times started to go back up. Still, it was good fun.

A nice 488 challenge that joined us:

There was a professional photographer onsite who took a few shots:

As usual, found some friends:

I arrived a bit late, but just in time for Ruben de Ronde to take the decks:

Next, was of course Armin, and he played a very nice set:

being in the pits is nice, but doesn't work well for all pictures :)

Higher up is nice for laser shots:

Video summary:

DNA Lounge sure changed a lot since last time I went. I was much amused by the ATM machine JWZ likely hacked:

4 different rooms, including happy hardcore, which I had never heard in a club so far (but used to listen to eons ago), was fun:

Blurr and Sonic Fuzion at the decks

Triode playing his Castles in the Sky remix

A few other pictures:

Short video:

The Terminal was also quite nice:

They even had a room doing cool VR demos:

We then boarded our plane, we had the first front seats ina 747, they were second only to Singapore Airlines:

nice wooden table

only 6 seats

Food was not united food, it was good:

sure, I'll have the caviar, thank you

The flight was almost over too soon :)

While we spent about 3 weeks in the Philippines, most of it was spent on a dive boat, so I can't say I gained a great insight on the country, but we still learned some things:

Airports/Security:

For our last day in Philippines after diving on the Siren, we went to a day tour of Bohol.

This started with a 2H ferry at 07:00 (getting up on the boat at 05:00 and leaving at 05:30 to get to the ferry way too early because traffic sucks and can't be relied on):

After arriving in Bohol we wnt to a local church with nice decors:

and then went to a butterfly sanctuary:

A coconut a day makes a happy Jennifer :)

We then did a lunch river cruise:

they did a nice local dance for us

Next were the hanging bridges:

This is where I learned that I've been opening coconuts all wrong:

And finally we got to see the super cute bohol tarsiers, which are actually quite small (size of your hand), and nocturnal, so very sleepy when we saw them:

Next was chocolate hill, with a view of what to used to be coral reef mounds when all this land was below water:

Last, and definitely least, we made the mistake of burning extra time with chocolate hill ATV, which gave Jennifer and me a broken ass two person ATV with a failing motor that was mistfiring and couldn't make power, and a known flat tire that they didn't fix and went flat again within minutes of me using it. They then made BS excuses to not re-imburse us, and it's only due to lack of time that I didn't stay there to burn all their new customers and ruin their lives until they paid me back.
Still, a few pictures:

And that was it for Bohol, it was then time to drive back to the port to catch our 2H ferry back to Cebu and Arturo to go to the airport (we went to the local google building instead).

So, the story goes that the local fishermen started feeding the whalesharks to keep them away from where they were fishing, because they were getting in the way. Eventually they grew to like them, and figured it was better to feed them and show them to tourists than to fish.

Snorklers get to wait a long time and spend only 10-15m in the water. Divers however get to spend whatever time they'd like (1h+ for us) and see them underwater for real. I've always been told that whalesharks don't like bubbles (which is true of sharks), but those not only didn't mind, but at least some actually liked our bubbles. One of them followed us away from the food to swim around us and dance in our bubbles.

As for the question of whether this prevents the whales from otherwise eating naturally, they only get fed in the morning, and they do migrate away to live and eat elsewhere, so it doesn't seem to be a real problem. I'm hopeful that it's a net positive, especially if it gets all those people to use the money to live instead of (over-)fishing.
Still, as I found out later, the place remains controversial, at best, more details here: http://dive-bohol.com/conservation/5-reasons-not-go-oslob
I went with a gopro for filming in the left hand, and took pictures with my camera in the right hand. I then took a few screen grabs from the 4K video to supplement the pictures taken by the camera.

So, speaking of pictures:

Here's a 4K video of the encounters:

And more pictures below:

sadly, our friend whale shark had a lot of parasites on it

Half way through the dive, we had to reposition and noticed 2 cuttlefish at the bottom, one was doing a very good weed impression:

don't look at me, I'm a weed

Back to whalesharks:

this one loved bubbles

yeah, bubbles

not just one, but 2, then 3, and up to 7 whalesharks

chasing bubbles again

So that was it, it was a lot of fun and the shalesharks seemed happy enough, at least with us, divers.